Nintendo’s new direction in providing gamers with a new way of playing video games has been the recent “talk about” in the gaming industry. For some, the Nintendo Remote has allowed them to experience gaming unlike ever before and others; it has been a huge nightmare with broken televisions, fatigued muscles and injuries! Many of these problems could be blamed on the gamer but experts suggest that Nintendo has “overlooked” the execution of the beneficial wrist strap.

Owning a big screen television is becoming a fear for most people who have a Nintendo Wii in their household. The console’s controller (“Remote”) is used to interact with the video game which allows a whole new experience. The Remote utilizes a user’s physical input in order to play the game. As the character in the game is holding the baseball bat, the gamer does the same with the Remote. You hold and swing the Remote just like you would with a baseball bat. The character on-screen will mimic your every movement. This is how you play; this is the next-generation of video gaming. It sounds fun, doesn’t it? A lot of this fun has turned into a concern for most people. Careless gamers who release the hold on the Remote cause a television screen to crack! The job of the wrist strap is to hold the Remote close to the gamer just in case their grip is released. Today, there are many cases where the wrist strap is breaking due to defective material. You can see why so many televisions are being destroyed. (example)

Playing for an extended period of time can actually make your muscles sore. If you’ve been fortunate enough to get your hands on a Nintendo Wii, then you’ve been able to experience Wii Sports. Wii Sports comes with every console and is packaged with Baseball, Tennis, Bowling, Golf and Boxing. All of these games require the gamer to use physical movements in order to participate in the joy of the game. Let’s take Boxing for example: You hold the Remote in your right hand and the Nunchuck (Remote attachment) in the left hand. Both controllers in each hand are motion sensored and will allow you to punch your opponent. You begin by thrusting your fists at the screen as you would in a real life fighting match. The character will mimic everything you are doing until your opponent is knocked out. Many people who play for longer than one match will begin to experience sore muscles and this takes a lot of physical effort. Nintendo could be doing a the world a favour by getting those lazy gamers off their buts and active again! Don’t take my word for it, check out this hardcore gamer! Fatigue doesn’t really have much to do with the wrist strap unless the gamer has a weak grip on the Remote, it falls out of hand and the strap snaps!

There hasn’t been a gaming console out there to cause injury to any player unless the player is whipping some major butt in Street Fighter! There have been reports that individuals are getting too close to there players which swing the Remote. There was a couple who purchased a Wii and one night the girlfriend decided to play Zelda. The boyfriend was out that night at some party and came home in an intoxicated state. Being the hero he thought he was, he took the Remote from her as she was about to destroy a main boss. As he was slashing the sword (Remote) she tried to intervene and he hit her right in the eye. This may be an extreme case, but things like this do happen. (full story) These were adults, what if a child was to get his hands dirty in an action-packed game?? The wrist-strap will at least protect itself from flying into other people (if it doesn’t break). The current wrist straps are known to break and are defective. A broken wrist strap and equal an injured person very quickly.

The good news is that Nintendo has investigated on the problem and they do admit that there is a problem with their current wrist straps. If you own a console, they will send you newly developed wrist straps that are stronger and withstand a lot of force. You can simply apply for replacements through the Nintendo Wii website. There is a problem with the wrist strap, but that doesn’t mean Nintendo hasn’t done a great job in providing a system that will allow gamers to be much more interactive with their environments. In short, I’ve lost 3 pounds!!

The Legend of Zelda has been with us for 20 years and continues to raise the bar with its innovative game controls. Twilight Princess is a prime example of the quality people should expect when experiencing a new Zelda adventure. Controlling Link with the new Nintendo Wii remote has never been so satisfying. When you have a chance to try the new map system, precision aiming, and swordplay will you then understand why it feels so amazing.

The series has always featured the ability to view your location on a map and help aid your navigation through fairly large worlds. Being able to zoom in and out on multiple levels may not seem like a new feature, though when you point and click to where you want to zoom in, any other control mechanism will seem prehistoric. When you are fully zoomed in, simply press and hold the A button and drag the map around with your hand. Guaranteed you will actually look forward to using your new navigation system when adventuring through Hyrule.

Projectile weapons such as the boomerang, hookshot, and bow and arrow all feature one thing in common, speed and precision. Relying on your own reaction time and physical aiming, this is where the men are separated from the boys. Engage your new boomerang and point and click on a maximum of five different objects of your liking. When you release it will travel and hit the objects in the order that you’ve specified. Use the hookshot by physically aiming at what you want to hit and pull, or where you want to grapple yourself to. When you’re in an intense battle whether on horseback or foot, you can use your bow and arrow to quickly destroy enemies as fast as you physically can. Hold down the A button to pull back an arrow, point with the Wii remote and release to fire. Not only will you be able to feel your actions with force feedback you can hear sounds of the items your using coming from the remote itself.

The sword has always been Link’s first and most reliable weapon during battle. When you’re approaching an enemy simply gesture the Wii remote as if you were slashing a sword and Link will unsheathe his weapon. Hold down the Z button on the Wii nunchuck attachment to lock onto the enemy in question. Use the joystick to move around and press the A button to jump for extreme maneuverability. Throughout the game you will learn to utilize many different combinations of movements to actually use the sword. The experience is like nothing else and you’ll never look back.

Not only are these news features required in successfully completing this adventure, you’ll have an amazing time using the new controls in the process. Experience the new map system by moving it around with your hand. Use precise aiming to destroy enemies as fast as you physically can, always leaving you room for improvement. Feel as if you are actually Link by wielding his sword just as you always wanted to. The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess is a breath of fresh air for gamers, where having innovative ways to control a gaming experience has taken a turn for the better. I wish the best of luck to Nintendo and have faith that the next-gen version of The Legend of Zelda will continue to raise the bar.

Note: Video comparison used for article explanation.

I have been playing Nintendo Wii for almost a month now and have been patiently waiting for the High Definition cables to come out. Having an HD television allows me to enjoy rich experiences, but I’m not sure if Nintendo is going to pull through on this one. Me and many others have been waiting for the component cables to be released and to see how the quality of HD gaming.
The Nintendo Wii is capable of outputting 480p (progressive scan) through component cables only. Unfortunately, the High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) cable will not be available since the maximum output is 480p. If you’re not using component cables then you’ll be stuck to use the regular Video Graphics Array (VGA) cables on a 480i (interlaced) output. The TV that I will be referring to is a 50 inch Samsung plasma.

As a HDTV owner, I am always looking to get high definition compliant devices that will allow me to have a complete experience. There is nothing unlike the HD experience - once you’ve been there it is hard to go back. Nintendo Wii was released about 30 days ago and I had not found any HD cables that would allow me to fully enjoy the Nintendo Wii. For the first 20 days, Nintendo announced that they would only be selling component cables through their online store and major online retail stores (such as Best Buy, Toys R Us, etc). I found this to be very frustrating because they would take orders online, but would not deliver them until December 12th (today). I was fortunate enough to walk into my local Best Buy and pick up a third-party version of the component cables. They’re not the same as the “Nintendo” branded cables, but they’ll have to do to appease my HD fix.

After connecting the third-party component cables for a full HD experience, I immediately noticed a sharpness in the picture! I was extremely happy with the first impression and how well Nintendo created the HD experience. I tried my favourite game, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, to see if there was an increase in quality. The colour’s instantly shot out of the TV as bright and vivid as I would ever imagine!! The quality of environments which originally had soft edges had crisp and defined outlines! The only downfall to this experience was character movement. When I would move Link or the horse on screen, you could clearly see pixelation around the edges of the character. Not only that, you could also see vertical lines across the screen until the movement stopped. The HD experience, which I was extremely excited about, turned into a half-HD experience.

Perhaps the third-party cables that I was using were not of good enough to produce the flawless HD experience I was expecting. If that was the case, then the Nintendo Wii interface wouldn’t look good, but it looked the best out of everything. I tried adjusting the settings on my TV and Wii to see if anything would fix this problem, but I realized the HD experience was game specific. You can consider it similar to a TV show that is filmed not using an HD camera - you can’t expect it to be in HD quality. I think the creators of Zelda made a HD experience as best they could, considering this game came was originally ported from the Gamecube.

After much time, I finally did receive my cables and played the Nintendo Wii being exposed to a semi-HD gaming experience. The good news for HD TV owners is that you will be able to play your favourite games on the Wii with either Nintendo or third-party component cables. All cables in North America should be available this week at your nearest retail superstore!

Side Note: I’ve video taped HD and non-HD experience to show off the difference in colour quality. Although, you can really see the high detail, you can indeed see the colour differences. The left side is is the HD and the right is the non-HD. Please excuse the quality! It is mainly to show off the colour differences. You can see how vivid and crisp the HD colours are compared to the blurred together non-HD colours. Watch the video!!!!

The new Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) allowed Link to make another appearance in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past!

This returned after 4 years since the side-scroller, Zelda 2: Link. The new game took on an overview perspective which gave the game a nice polish! This was the first Zelda game where you could collect heart pieces, having 4 to make a full extra heart!

In this game, you will see Link travel back and forth between the Light and Dark World in order to save the Princess Zelda. Link had new found abilities such as moving diagonally and attacking multiple enimies in multiple directions.
New items in this game were included: Sling Shot for grappling, Pegasus Boots for dashing and the Master Sword.

The next game that was developed in the series was The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening! This game allowed developer’s to move the series to a hand held device for the first time. It was also the first in the series to have a story line that didn’t include Princess Zelda, Hyrule and the Triforce! Of course, Link picked up one of Mario’s skills: Jumping!
A Link to the Past held the number one spot on Nintendo Power for 5 consecutive years! To this date, there is not a role playing game that can be compared to ANY games in the Zelda Series. Today we have in our hands the latest edition: Twilight Princess
Thank you Shigeru!

Click here to watch the retrospective on The Legend of Zelda (retrospective Part 2)